A new semester meant a new beginning.
In pretty much every class that day, the teachers spent the first thirty minutes chatting before they even got to the lesson. They said the usual things: you were already in your second year of high school, so it was time to rein yourself in. If your grades were bad, do not lose heart. Every year there were students who turned things around in their third year and went from dead last to getting into a good university.
On that level, Japan was not all that different from the world Haruto remembered from those other memories.
The only difference was that students here were not as obedient as the stereotypes claimed.
Not everyone wanted to become some elite shining adult. Plenty of kids decided as early as high school that they would be fine growing up to be ordinary, and those students naturally did not grind themselves to dust.
In Haruto's class, the teacher was practically preaching until his throat went dry, but most students were unmoved. Some even whispered among themselves, passing notes under the desk.
"Hey, did you hear? Haruto's family supposedly went bankrupt."
"Yeah, I heard too. Apparently his dad owed too much money, panicked, and something happened. Now everything they owned is going to paying off debts."
"Seriously? That is brutal."
"Life really can flip overnight. It is real, though. One of my middle school friends said their family was one of the creditors. Haruto used to be one of the better-off kids in our class. Even if he suddenly takes the teacher's advice and fixes his grades, how is he supposed to afford university after the entrance exams next year?"
"So that is why Rin has been so cold to him this semester. Last term they used to walk and talk together all the time, and now they act like strangers. That explains it."
"Forget that. The real bomb was what Kaito was telling the guys earlier."
"Huh? What did Kaito say?"
"You know Reina Fujimoto, right? Kaito said she might be interested in Haruto."
The physics teacher walked toward the back of the classroom and calmly snatched a note from a student's hand. He focused on it for a second, then his expression darkened.
His mouth twitched.
"I have been talking for this long and it is like lecturing a brick wall," he said flatly. "Kaito, stop spreading gossip all day. You two boys might not care, but if it spills into other classes, it becomes a problem. Next period I am giving you a problem on electromagnetism. If you have time to pass notes, then you must have completely mastered the material."
Haruto and Kaito both froze.
'Why are they suddenly dragged into this? What on earth did that note even say?'
Haruto was completely confused.
But before the morning classes were even over, he found out.
Half the class was whispering.
Apparently, Reina Fujimoto from Class 7 had been quietly asking around about Haruto and paying close attention to him.
Reina, the girl who had been top of the grade for as long as anyone could remember, the campus goddess that countless boys secretly worshipped, was paying attention to him?
Yeah, right.
It was not even about low self-esteem. Haruto simply knew he had no connection to her at all. He barely had to think before deciding it was nonsense.
Rumors like this were everywhere in school.
Somebody was dating somebody, somebody was secretly in love with somebody, and people acted as if they had cracked the code of the universe. Most of it was pure imagination. Teenagers loved to build fantasies out of nothing.
Sometimes all it took was a girl from another class standing by the door and peeking inside, and suddenly half the room was writing a romance novel in their heads. If you took it seriously, you lost.
Still, Rin, who sat one row ahead of him, turned around and glanced at him when she heard the rumor. She did not really believe it either.
Even so, it left an unpleasant feeling in her chest.
Who was Reina Fujimoto? Her father was a well-known business owner in the region. She was rich, beautiful, brilliant, and talented.
It was not just academics. She was athletic too. In her first year, she entered competitions and won top-level awards, including national prizes for both painting and piano.
A girl like that would be interested in a boy who had gone bankrupt, and who had been dumped by herself?
Impossible. Just putting their names side by side felt like a joke because of the contrast.
Rin took a slow breath and forced her gaze away from Haruto's side profile as he stared out the window at the drifting clouds.
As for Kaito, the class's loudest mouth, he could not produce any proof when people questioned him. All he could do was declare with absolute confidence, "Time will prove everything. I might love gossip, but I do not spread lies."
The rumor about Haruto and Reina sparked a brief wave of chatter, then faded quickly. Nobody truly believed it. It was just something fun to talk about, and by the next day, the heat was gone.
Haruto's new semester routine was painfully simple.
Wake up. Go to school. Eat. Go home. Write.
Little by little, the manuscript for Blue Spring Ride became more complete.
As for Crimson Maple Literature, he had assumed all he needed to do was submit chapters on schedule and that would be the end of it.
But on Wednesday evening, Yukino called him to headquarters.
"The reason I asked you to come is simple," she said. "The publisher has lined up an illustrator to design the promotional poster for your first serialized installment. The character designs and overall style need input from you as the author."
For a magazine at the level of Fleeting Blossoms, when a new series launched, the publisher almost always included a full-color illustrated poster tucked inside that issue.
The issue of Fleeting Blossoms that would feature Chapter One of Blue Spring Ride was scheduled for region-wide release two Wednesdays from now, on February 22nd. The printing work was already underway at the press. If the poster was going to make it into the issue, it had to be finished within the week, which meant they could not wait until the weekend.
So for the next two evenings, Haruto did not get any rest after school. Instead, he met with the professional illustrator arranged by Crimson Maple Literature, discussing the poster's atmosphere, the character designs, and how to capture the feel of the story.
To be honest, his mental image of the characters came almost entirely from the original anime. When he talked with the illustrator, he kept guiding the designs toward that familiar look.
After all, the characters were part of why the original work had become a hit. He trusted the tastes of otaku culture, even if it came from another world.
As for the next chapters of the novel, since he had no time to write in the evenings, he started doing it during the day while classes were in session.
The teachers did not pay much attention to him anyway because his grades were not great, and his seat was in the very back by the window. It was the perfect spot to write quietly without anyone bothering him.
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
At last, the date arrived.
February 21st.
The temperature rose that day. Spring was creeping in, and a warm breeze drifted through the air, the kind that made people sleepy and lazy.
But among the students at Minamishiro Third High School, there were two people who felt like this perfectly ordinary Tuesday was moving painfully slowly.
Because tomorrow was release day.
Tomorrow, Blue Spring Ride and Yesterday's Starlight would finally hit shelves.
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